That’s right— have a nice day on the internet!
What can you expect by subscribing to get full access to the newsletter and this website? Well, I’ll tell ya: You’ll have a nice day on the internet, ya silly goose! I’ve spent the majority of the last 25 years juggling a few life paths—one for work (survival) and the other out of a pure natural born talent to create. I’ve managed to merge much of what dictates survival into also helping direct fellow artists with the little time I can find. That seems to be a tougher factor to live and work with as we age, but I’m still doing it. I have no choice, I was born this way. Creating is all I know. Music, books, film, art—doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s for me or artist friends, create. You can peruse through a sliver of all that jazz over at AndyWhorehall.com or DaveDeCastris.com.
They each serve different audiences for diverse goals: Passion work vs. Survival work. The latter—Survival work—is a dichotomy of sorts; because at some point, I need to be able to merge the two to make life and work easier on my body, brain, and overall health.
The reasons for this duality began in the early 2000s when I realized the community I was born and raised in served to hold down and drown out creative professionals. Especially anyone who didn’t quite enjoy amateur hour sports, mall church gatherings, and fast food. Not my style—knew so by Kindergarten (having failed the first time for being socially distant without a pandemic to blame on) that I thought and felt a bit different than kids around me. I wanted to make records, music, read and write books, draw… Anything to not be a part of the majority’s social conditioning and human development party. Yawn AF, yes.
As you can imagine being in Rockford, education is looked down upon as well for human development. Leaders preach it, but they don’t mean it. Promoting and underpaying amateurs, but then complaining to the media that they can’t find quality employees to hire is their 101 for success. Teachers are worn out, too; overworked, exhausted—and this was all before a pandemic. Overall, if you’re not a lawyer or medical professional in the region, there’s little respect and opportunities to be found.
This is a norm for most people who aren’t inherently, financially blessed or know someone who knows someone that they played sports with in high school or at their local country club golf outing. Weird town. Working harder / smarter doesn’t get you too far in an amateur town like Rockford. Being creative? Shit, you’re f****d!
I needed to break the chain of this location-influence thing about 20 years ago as I was approaching 30. I clearly saw the writing on the empty factory building walls. Being a first born American to a working-class Immigrant that was labor-abused by the decline of manufacturing, I saw life in black and white for a working class American family at a young age—job loss and keeping everything together for the sake of my sisters and I—as I now start to see it unfold for my wife and young son. My dad deserved better of his American immigrant, working class hero experience, but he never complained and worked his ass off. A hero. Like many.
That generation was too proud to speak up—and now, we see that silence isn’t good enough. The scumbags are winning with old fashioned selfishness and privilege. Speaking up is necessary to make life better for future generations. So here I am, rambling, and that’s what this particular internet channel will serve as until I figure out a purpose for it aside of sharing insight.
Location is everything, they say—and with the internet—you can be anywhere at any time with a strong wireless connection and a few pricey smart devices. I’ve learned this to be true by slowly putting my life and work out there to be found for the last two decades. It has worked wonders to create connections with creative spirit animals everywhere. Businesses too, as financial survival relies on connections. As does creativity. Human connections, even here on the internet, matters.
So, with that…
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